IMPORTANT INFORMATION

INDIVIDUALS TEACHING CPAN®/CAPA® EXAMINATION REVIEW COURSES

ABPANC’s goal is to have as many CPAN and CAPA certified nurses as possible at our patients’ bedsides and we want to see perianesthesia nurses succeed in their certification quest. To that end, we hope that information offered in CPAN/CAPA Examination Review Courses contains the most up-to-date and factual information as possible and takes advantage of all of ABPANC’s study resources, which can be found here.

The CPAN and CAPA certification programs are each based on the results of a Role Delineation Study (RDS), also known as a Study of Practice, conducted every five years. A summary of the results of the most recent study, conducted from 2015-2016. This study of practice validated that perianesthesia patients have certain needs, regardless of the setting in which they receive perianesthesia nursing care. The scope of knowledge required for the Perianesthesia certification exam includes a broad understanding of patients with multiple comorbidities. The CPAN and CAPA certification examinations (which are national in scope) are designed to test a broad range of knowledge. Some perianesthesia nurses may have never cared for patients with some of the specific needs found in the blueprint, however, to earn the CPAN or CAPA credential(s), candidates need to demonstrate they have the knowledge to care for them.

A review course should focus on the CPAN/CAPA Test Blueprint, the listing of perianesthesia patient needs and related knowledge required to meet these needs. In addition, the study references are the only ones used to reference CPAN and CAPA examination questions.. ABPANC’s Study Resources can be found at http://cpancapa.org/resources/study-tools/. Examination candidates are best prepared if review courses focus on patient needs and related knowledge in the perianesthesia setting, and how that knowledge is applied to the care of patient.

As educators we know that you understand our need to protect the integrity and confidentiality of the CPAN and CAPA examinations. No one wants students to leave a test and tell their peers what’s on it! It’s really a challenge with a high stakes national certification examination! Those teaching review courses are also cautioned against making generalized statements that specific questions or conditions are included on the CPAN or CAPA certification examination. Such statements are misleading and may be untrue. Each examination is different from one administration to another. There are over a thousand questions in each of our item banks and examinations are assembled using specifications that dictate a certain percentage of questions in a given area.

Test candidates are also instructed that they are not to share information about the examination they have taken. In addition, as noted in the Certification Candidate Handbook, “the examination and items contained therein are protected by Federal copyright law. No part of the examination may be copied or reproduced in part or whole by any means whatsoever, including memorization.”

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OUR VISION

Recognizing and respecting the unequaled excellence in the mark of the CPAN and CAPA credential, perianesthesia nurses will seek it, managers will require it, employers will support it and the public will demand it.